


Whispers of a Shadowtail

by StardustMystic



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/F, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-21
Updated: 2020-03-25
Packaged: 2021-02-18 13:07:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21511531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StardustMystic/pseuds/StardustMystic
Kudos: 12





	1. The Light's Prey

"Capture them! Don't let them escape this time!"

We were being chased. It wasn't the first time we were running from guards in fact, it is how I grew up my entire life. Fourteen years ago I was born to a small family. I had both a brother and a sister. Unfortunately I was born with a silver shadow-like fox tail with silver fox ears. Apparently I am what people call a "Shadowtail". I still to this day don't know what that is, but I have a feeling that because of that, I am being chased beside my brother.

Slate looks back at the pursuing guards. "Kirai, get ready." He grabs my arm and swings me into the air, flinging me above the rooftops.

I call my scythe from the shadows and turn around witnessing Slate surrounded by guards. "Get away from my brother." I raise my scythe above my head and begin my descent, spinning my blade above me exponentially faster only to slam the blade into the ground, carpeting the city in a thick black smoke.

Slate grabs my wrist and pulls me into a tower, running up the stairs to the roof. "Where are the closest alleys?" He scans our surroundings, counting seconds for the smoke to dissipate.

I look out towards the walls of the city, several alleys were dark enough for us to escape. "Over there!" I pull Slate down off the tower roof down on top of the houses.

We run across many different houses, jumping across the small alleys and streets to the next block. Before we jumped from a set of houses to the next, something came crashing down in front of us, knocking us down onto our backs.

The object was a man and a little girl. The man had a long sword with symbols on the blade and a scepter in his hand, drawn. Beside him was a little girl wearing a small dress. I stare at the little girl, she had a tail which looked like a squirrel, and a pair of snow white butterfly wings.

"Is she a shadowtail like me?" I thought to myself. Because if she was, why isn't she being chased and hunted down?

Before Slate or I could get up, the man dashed towards us, swinging his sword towards me, clashing against the shaft of my scythe. I didn't have time to react, the man swung rapidly towards me, mostly hitting my scythe but slashing my skin with ease when he did hit me. The man stopped slashing and kicked me down on my back, disarming me in the process.

The man laughs. "Look here Victoria, the last Shadowtail!"

The little girl in the back claps. "Good job Arkin!"

Just before anything else could happen, Slate stood up and grabbed the man named Arkin by the neck and summoned his polearm. "Stop calling her that." Before Arkin could speak, Slate threw him off the roof. He lends out a hand. "You ok sis?"

I grab his arm and pull myself back onto my feet. "There is one more." I glare at Victoria wanting to harm her to send Arkin a message. But I couldn't, something about her made me feel uneasy, almost as if we were alike.

Slate turns to Victoria and then back to me. "It's just little girl, we need to go now." He grabs my arm and pulls me past Victoria, jumping to the next set of houses, sliding down into the dark alley.

We take a moment to recover our breath before I pull us into the shadow world.

Slate takes off his bag and pulls it open. "Two loaves of bread, and four apples." He ties the bag closed and looks up at me. "I must ask you of something little sis."

I glare at Slate unsure of what he wants. He's usually the type to not ask questions. 

He continues. "Well I have two questions: One, Why did you hold back on that little girl? Two, with your magic, why do we only steal food?"

I sigh, hoping he wouldn't ask those two. "First of all, we only steal what we need to survive. It's wrong to use magic for power."

Slate shakes his head in disapproval. "What's so wrong about it? All the magic users in this entire world are probably using their magic for power so why won't you?"

I scoff at him. "Just because everyone does it doesn't mean it's right. Otherwise what is stopping them from making magicless people into slaves?"

Slate stands silently before nodding his head. "Fair enough, now answer my first question."

I step back and sit down on the ground, unsure of why. "I don't know."

Slate rolls his eyes and crouches down next to me. "Stop bullshitting me, we both know you like to harm people after someone hurts you." He lifts up my arm to me showing me the cuts.

I push him away from me, as he doesn't need to know.

Slate laughs. "Oh wait, I know now." He gets back onto his feet and unsummons his polearm. "That little girl had a tail and ears like you so you think that there is a similarity."

I turn away from Slate and stand with my arms crossed in silence.

Slate puts a hand on my shoulder. "Maybe soon one day we can find her and ask her a few questions."

I shrug. "That's if she doesn't run when she sees us."

Slate laughs again. "Exactly. That's what I meant by 'soon'."

I uncross my arms and turn to Slate. "Well what now?"

Slate puts down his bag again and tosses me an apple. "Maybe we should rest while we can, I'll wake you up right before night time okay?"

I nod my head, still wondering if Victoria was another shadowtail like me... But Vic said I was the last one... But then what was she?

I lay down on the floor looking up into the endless void of the dark sky in the shadow world. I clear my head and close my eyes, falling asleep until nightfall.


	2. The Hunt is On

"Hey, wake up."

Slate rubs my shoulders, slowly waking me up. "Look, you're famous now." He pulls out a sheet of paper from his bag and covers my face with it.

I grab the paper and rub my eyes. I look down at the paper with blurry vision but I could already tell that there is a picture of me.

My vision clears up and I read the paper.

 **Wanted:** Kirai Okumura, _Shadowtail_

There was that title again. _Shadowtail_. Why did they call me that? What does it mean?

My mind was full of questions, all of them making me slowly dwell into hate.

Why do they try to hunt me down like I'm some sort of monster? Why can't I just be treated like a normal girl?

Slate takes the paper out of my hand and stuffs it back into his bag. "I know you don't like being called a 'Shadowtail'. But that's something we both hate, being called something we don't know." He tosses me an apple from his bag. "However, I know a bit about the meaning behind that name." He sits down beside me and looks directly into my eyes. "The humans think you are a demon. The Elves think you are a lost spirit." He paused. "But I eavesdropped on that man we encountered that fell from the sky. He says that you are just a creature of an angel gifted with dark magic."

I take a bite out of the apple. "But who was that little girl with him?"

He shrugs his shoulders. "I dunno sis, I'm not some sort of know-it-all."

I sigh. "I wonder if there are other people like me." I stand up and pull Slate up on his feet. "Where are we going tonight?" 

Slate smiles and does a swift turn away from me, lifting the dust off the ground creating a mist. "I figured that we should leave the city walls and intercept a convoy of food so we can eat for another few months."

I sigh and shake my head just from the thought of being caught. "Slate, if we keep stealing things, they will see me as evil."

Slate looks at me and mockingly laughs. "So what? Sis, they already think and will always see you as a bad person."

I felt my ears and tail droop from his comment. Even though he is my brother, he really is like the rest of his kind. Nothing but judgments and refusing change.

Slate looks over his shoulder noticing I was about to cry. "No, stop that." He walks over to me and holds me by the shoulders and gets down on one knee. He sighed. "Sis, I heard a fighter on the street say this to some big guy." I thinks for a moment and stares into my eyes. "He said 'You are bad guy, but that doesn't mean you're bad guy.'"

I felt myself smiling from that silly quote. I know it meant but it seemed too silly to be taken seriously. 

Slate's face changed from a comfortable happy look back to his normal mysterious self. "Now let's get us some food to eat!"

I nod as I summon my scythe. "Just enough to feed us, we can't forget about other people."

Slate rolls his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, sure."

I lift my scythe up into the air and sweep the ground, collecting all the shadows into my scythe's blade, taking us out of the shadow world in the process.

Slate grabs my hand and pulls me to the end of the alley, looking around the corner for guards. "It's clear."

We both walk out onto the street using the darkness of midnight to hide us in plain sight. I could feel the light of the moon resting on my skin, almost like it was empowering me.

Slate wraps his arm around my shoulder and stares up into the night sky. "You know sis, I noticed that whenever you use your shadow powers during the night, you seem to put more energy into them." He looks down at me and tilts his head. "Do you know why..?"

I shake my head as not even I know the reasons behind my powers. I don't think I want to know anymore. Having them already makes me hate them enough.

Slate sighs. "Maybe we should go out into the woods and have you try out as many things as possible?" He pulls out a book from his coat. "I stole this book from Skyman as I was throwing him off the roof." He placed the book into my hands and opens it to page 9. "Read that page, apparently he knows quite a bit about your type."

I glare at Slate already wanting to kill him for saying; "My type." I shake my head and look down at the page and read.

**_Shadowtails pt.1_**

_ Day 1_

_I have been informed by Aria that a new humanoid race has been introduced to World 10. Currently the angel responsible, Veritia, is being held in the great libraries being asked about new race in case things go wrong._

_ Day 2_

_So far Veritia has not gave us enough information on the new race. Lilibet has ordered me to investigate down on the ground as Elizabeth and Aria interrogate Veritia. Victoria seems to be ready to get down to World 10 just as I am. I really hope that these Shadowtails do not pose a threat to the world. I have been growing tired of the same old friendly races like Humans and Elves. I just think there needs more variety but now I see why it's hard to introduce a new race when building a world._

_ Day 8_

_Apparently my worst fears have come true. Veritia has created by far the most powerful mortals that ever existed and they are unleashing their power across the land. Victoria and I are looking for a weakness but so far the only one we notice is that their abilities are weakened during the day. Which I guess makes sense. So far, Elizabeth made Veritia tell us that there are eleven Shadowtails in existence and that they are easily distinguished with their grey animal ears and a matching tail, almost like an angel. Besides the appearance, the two that we encountered seem to have shadow magic, but much more dangerous than any users of that kind I have seen. It’s almost like they mastered the art of shadow magic and learned how to harvest the shadows into weapons. I will need to look more into their art. But for now, I need to stop them before any more damage is done._

_ Day 19_

_Four of the eleven Shadowtails have been killed. But the damage they have done is far greater than I could even imagine. Entire forests turned black and soon the trees died. Some areas of the world has been covered by an eternal night. At this rate I don’t believe that I alone can stop them in time. I might have to ask Elizabeth to come down and assist me._

_ Day 23_

_Nine of the eleven Shadowtails are dead. It turned out that five of them were living together in a cave not far from the Elven capital. From the locals I heard that they never seen anyone with the key features I described. I eventually found dead bodies of animals with their bodies marked with smoke rising from them which meant they were close by and the kill was today. I saw them coming out from a cave and ambushed them while they were talking with one another. I do fear where the last two Shadowtails are as no reports are coming in from any of the capital cities._

_ Day 46_

_One of the two remaining Shadowtails has been found in the Human capital. From the Human’s report, apparently she is still just a child when her parents reported her. My orders from Lilibet say to exterminate the Shadowtails but if she is just a child... Does that mean we can nurture her to be harmless? If it were up to me I would try to do so. But I can not risk the chances of that plan failing. We don’t need another World 1 and World 9._

I couldn't believe it. I am one of two left of my kind. Soon I feel like I will be the next one to fall... But perhaps not if I am lucky.

Slate notices that I finished reading and takes the book from me. "So what did you learn?"

I close my eyes trying to pick out everything I read. "Something about how we are in World 10, and he said something about World 1 and 9..."

Slate laughs. "That man is crazy."

I shake my head in denial. Something about him tells me that the man wasn't crazy. "I doubt that. He spoke about the angels and he seems to have a relation to them. Plus considering that he fell from the sky could mean he himself is actually from heaven."

Slate facepalms his forehead. "You barely know the man and yet you are defending him. He's even hunting you down."

Slate was right but at the same time I felt that I was too. I want to believe The Skyman because it's the closest I have to finding out who I really am.

I look up at Slate reading the book. "He mentioned someone named Veritia. Apparently she is the one that created the 'Shadowtails' so maybe we should try and find her?"

Slate shakes his head. "We don't have enough info or time to do that sis."

I look down at my feet forgetting that we didn't have much power to do anything like that. "Okay."

Slate stops me in my tracks hand climbs up on top of a roof. "We're close to the city wall. Let's go."

He holds out his hand to pull me up on the roof. I grab his hand as two guards come out from an alley behind us.

Slate laughs. "That was close." He walks to the other side of the roof looking down at the streets full of guards. "Seems like the patrols are starting." He turns to me and rolls his eyes. "Do you think your shadow powers can get us to the wall faster?"

I shrug my shoulders unsure what my powers were capable of.

Slate crosses his arms thinking. "I think I know a trick." He grabs my hand and points towards the city wall. "Look at that wall, imagine you're there with me."

I squint my eyes looking at the top of the wall trying to picture myself there. "Okay, what's next?"

Not expecting anything, I feel him give my ass a hard spank making me squeal out a quiet moan.

I open my eyes and look around. We were on top of the city wall.

Slate lets go of my hand and looks at me. "Oh wow it actually worked!"

I turn to him, covering the place he spanked me. "What the fuck was that for?!"

Slate laughs. "I used to have a magic friend in school. I found out that if you slap them hard enough, they can teleport."

I grab the collar of his shirt and glare into his eyes. "Did you have to do it there?"

Slate shakes his head. "Well sis, being around you makes sure I don't see any girls anymore." He smiles with a perverted look directly into my eyes. "So maybe you should repay your brother for sacrificing his love life for ya."

I roll my eyes and let go of him. "Whatever, where do we go now?"

Slate shrugs his shoulders and climbs down the wall. "Follow the main road I guess. Chances are, we'll find the convoy there."

I turn around and look back into the city noticing how bright it was. It's size is much bigger from up here than down in the alleys.

I hear Slate's feet hit the ground. I turn around and glance down at him leaning against the wall for me.

"Are you coming sis?" He asks.

I roll my eyes and leap down landing softly on the ground next to him like a feather. "Let's go."

Slate summons his spear as we walk through the bushes of the forest, slicing through the leaves and branches in our path pretending to be one of the explorers of the city. Despite how precise in combat he may be, he is still very clumsy. Several times he tripped over a rock or almost got his foot stuck under a tree root.

"It's funny." Slate starts. "Last time I went out of the city was with mom and pop." He looks at me with almost a cold yet regretful stare. "But I guess those kind of things change when we got dangerous people running loose." He turns away and walks further down the dark forest path straying further away from me than usual.

I follow his footsteps and walk down the path following him from afar. Slate seemed off tonight. Just from the way he looks at me and how distant he became after talking about when he was a kid. It must've been hard trying to protect me and perhaps now he is fully thinking of his decisions. I wouldn't blame him at all for hating me. After all, I am just some Shadowtail.

* * *

My legs started to hurt yet felt like they could keep walking forever. We have been walking for several hours. The middle of the night held the moon high above us, casting dark faint shadows on the floor. Slate still kept his distance from me occasionally clenching his fist and shaking his head from time to time.

Just before the forest path ends Slate crouches down and looks behind him at me. "We will intercept them from here."

I crouch down beside him with my scythe out, noticing how it shined a dim silver under the moonlight. "How do we do this?"

He just shrugs as a bright lantern inches closer and closer to us. A convoy of four soldiers were approaching all talking with each other.

"So you know those Shadowtail girls right?"

"Uh huh."

"I used to date on of them back in the day when no one knew about them."

"No way!"

I can hear Slate grunt and mumble something under his breath.

"Yeah it's the girl with the wanted posters. Kirai Okumura or something like that. Man, she was a total slut for me but I'm not complaining."

The soldiers continued to gasp and wow in amazement of the false stories the man made. But before I could say anything about it, Slate jumps out of the bushes and knocks three of the soldiers down with the blunt end of his spear, leaving the gloating one standing.

Slate digs his spear into the ground and drags the blade as he walks towards the fearing soldier. "So you want to tell your friends about how you fucked my sister over and over again?"

The soldier weakly holds his sword pointed straight at Slate but backing away slowly. "Y-Your sister?! T-They were just jokes!" Without knowing he backed into a tree, trapping him against Slate.

Slate scoffs. "Yeah sure. Jokes." He slams the blunt end of his spear against the soldier's knee making him fall and yelp in fear throwing his sword away. "Well well well, looks like it's your time to make those stories true by getting fucked by my sister right now," Slate glares towards me in the bush. "Come here sis."

I walk up to Slate with my scythe loosely in my cold shaking hands. "Yes..?"

Slate takes a whip from his belt and hands it to me. "Give it to him." The soldier looks up at me but Slate kicks him in the face knocking him down fully on the ground. "Stay down."

I stand still not knowing how to use a whip.

Slate rolls his eyes and grabs the whip from my hands. "Fine, I'll show you how to do it." He pulls back his hand swings the whip against the soldier making loud snapping noises when it hit his skin. "Your turn."

I shake my head in horror as I watch Slate roll his eyes again continuing to whip the soldier countless times. The soldier had his face red covered in sweat and tears letting out a loud cry when the whip cracked against his skin. The soldier kept begging Slate to stop but Slate had a sinister malicious look on his face, expressing every little last bit of hatred in him.

"I had enough!" I shouted causing both Slate and the soldier to look at me. I grabbed the whip from Slate's hands throwing it away as I shove him down into the ground. "He doesn't deserve this."

Slate gets up and throws me down to the ground. "Yes he does." He picks up his spear and thrusts it deep into the soldier's chest. "You forget that they are trying to kill us."

Something inside me clicked, I started to raise the palm of my hand towards Slate as if someone was controlling me. The dark and cold shadows started to swirl around my arm and the environment switched to pitch black. Slate and the leaves of the trees stood still, everything frozen in time. Everything felt so cold.

Just as I was about to move my hand back down a subtle whisper tickled my ear. "Let it out."

I tried to turn my head around to see who's speaking but I couldn't move. My eyes were focused on Slate and nothing else.

It was just him and I again. Only this time we were fighting. I felt my heart starting to burn from the built up hate. The heat from my heart slowly crawling through my twitching skin to my shaking hand. I let out a fierce cry of hate as the cold air suddenly heats up and flashes with a bright white.

The world around us returned to it's normal state. I let my eyes adjust to the darkness quickly and look around for Slate.

He's gone.

I get up from the ground and kneel beside the wounded soldier. He was bleeding intensely. I look at his fearful eyes. "What do I do?" I ask, putting pressure on the open wound.

The soldier nods in pain, jerking his head back. "Just like that..." His expression changed from pain to drowsy.

I look back at the the cart and see a medical kit hitched on the side. I run to the cart unhooking the kit from the side only to hear the crack of a stick from the soldier's direction. I turn quickly only to see the soldier standing up.

He looks at his hands covered with dry blood as he inspects the wound. "It's completely healed..." He turns his head to me in amazement.

I attach the kit back onto the cart then bend down and pick up his sword. "Sorry for my brother, he's crazy... Speaking of which, where did he go?"

The soldier shrugs. "I don't know, you blasted him with your magic and I didn't see him anymore." He takes the sword from my hand and sheathes the blade in his holster. "Honestly, I thought you would've killed me."

I frown slightly and shake my head. "I don't blame you, everyone thinks that when they see someone like me."

We stand in silence for more than a moment. The soldier breaks the silence by putting a hand on my shoulder. "Maybe you Shadowtails aren't so bad."

I look at the muddy ground beneath my feet in silence.

Just as I look up I hear a voice behind me. "Hey." I turn around swinging my scythe only to feel a gloved hand grab my arm. " _Gachinisl._ " I felt my body weaken, giving away all of it's energy, causing me to fall into a deep sleep.


	3. Reshape

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kirai is captured and put on trial. Our little Shadowtail has many challenges to prove her worth to her captors.

I awaken in a bright white stained glass cage. I breathe in the warm sweet air as my head clears. I look down at my clothes noticing that I've been changed into a soft fuzzy robe yet nude underneath. I stand up and try to call my scythe but nothing appears. I sit back down leaning against the glass looking outside. All I see around me is an endless void. Beneath me is a smooth shiny stone surface, decorated with bits of gold. I close my eyes only to be interrupted by someone's voice.

"So you're finally awake!" A tall blonde lady sits on the other side of the glass cube staring at me. Her eyes were a bright blue which matched the fan-shaped ornaments in her hair. "I've been sitting here for hours waiting for you to wake up."

Before I could respond, two quick flashes of light fill the room, two more people emerging from each flash.

I stare at the two newcomers and I quickly recognize them. The two who fell from the sky.

The man clears his throat and speaks. "So, this is Kirai Okumura."

The little girl steps closer to my glass cube and leans her back against it. "She's cute."

The man shakes his head. "Yes Victoria, but more importantly she can be dangerous."

The blonde lady laughs. "Last time we had someone cute she almost killed us all!"

Victoria deathly stares at the man and the blonde lady giving them a grumpy expression. "I doubt this one will kill us!" She turns around and taps on the glass wall suddenly teleporting into the cube with me holding my face in her hands. "Hmm... She looks like a wingless angel..."

I back away from Victoria. "Why am I here?"

The man sighs. "My apologies you haven't been given a proper introduction." He snaps his fingers and the glass cube disappears. "I am Arkin, Heir of the Angels. That little one is Victoria and the-"

The blonde lady interrupts. "I am Elizabeth. Guardian angel of Arkin, and Victoria's student."

Victoria starts to circle around me and suddenly grabs my tail making my face heat extremely red. "Her tail is so fluffy~!"

Arkin rolls his eyes and summons back the glass box around me, pulling Victoria out. "You are here for experimenting on."

I felt my heart go cold from fear. Out of instinct I summon my scythe and break through the glass, swinging the blade of my scythe towards Arkin.

Arkin takes a swift step back, dodging every single flurry of attacks I send out. "As I thought..." He spins around and knocks me down to the ground with a quick shove of his hand. "You are dangerous when scared..."

I unsummoned my scythe and get up from the ground. "Just kill me already."

Arkin puts a hand on my shoulder. "I saw you heal that man."

I stand silently waiting for him to continue.

Arkin smiles slightly yet quickly shakes it off. "I never seen anyone else of your kind do that to someone not like you."

I still stood silently trying to hide my smile.

Arkin suddenly frowns and takes his hand off my shoulder. "However I have orders to kill you..." He paused. "...But I want to know more about you."

Eliza pulls out a scroll from her bag. "Arkin, it says here your first test is combat... You don't plan on fighting her do you?"

Arkin pulls out his sword and scepter, leaping back away from me. "Just something quick. Plus I have you two as back up.

Eliza and Victoria sit down together and count down from 10

Arkin's eyes started to glow blue as the timer counted down.

I pull my scythe from the shadows ready to fight feeling something inside me awaken. As soon as the timer hit zero I blinked once taking me into the shadow world. But this time, It didn't look the same. All around me was still the same scenery only slightly fuzzy and dim. When I stare at my hands smoke rises from my arms. I look up at Arkin. He's scanning everything around him with his guard up. "What did I just do?" I hear a faint giggle. I turn ready to strike but there was no one. The voice giggled again but I couldn't pinpoint the direction.

I felt lightheaded, my vision blurring. Then the voice started to speak "So are you going to fight him or stay here with me?"

I fall on my knees holding my head as it starts to hurt more. "Where are you? Who are you?"

Something grabbed my arm and quickly pulled me back up on my feet. "You can't see me but just know I am here to help. Now fight him, we don't have all day."

The world brightens up to normal and within milliseconds Arkin glares at me and immediately charges towards me in a flash. I roll back with my scythe still in hand and swung. He clashes his sword against my scythe and leaps back waving his hand across him. I dashed towards him but a magical barrier stood between him and I. He raises his sword summoning six blades over his head all pointing at me. I crouch down with my hand resting on the ground feeling the shadows flowing through my arm. He quickly thrusts his sword forward, commanding the blades to launch all at once.

I close my eyes and heard the voice again. "My turn!"

Suddenly I felt a quick tug and as I look back I see the voice take over my body crouching on the ground with my eyes closed with time around me stopped. I step closer to my body but then my eyes opened, resuming time. I watched as the voice launches herself into the air spiraling gracefully with scythe in hand. She turns around and swings my scythe, launching six bolts of energy all hitting Arkin's blade attack, engulfing each with a thick cloud of dark smoke. From the rising smoke There stood the voice, smiling without breaking a sweat. Arkin unsummons the magic barricade and leaps towards her, slicing cleanly through her torso. My body flashes dissipating into smoke as it appears on the other side of Arkin, kicking him down from behind.

The voice laughs. "You've been bamboozled!" She disappears into smoke again only to appear standing on Arkin.

Arkin pushes up but the voice kicks him back down onto the ground nailing him with the six consumed blades.

The voice steps off him and starts levitating, swirling the scythe in a spiral. "Let's finish this, shall we?" Her eyes glowed a bright pink as the world around us turns into a dark shadowy smoke. "It seems the hunter is now the hunted... But I already caught you."

The voice raises her arm and calls a dark flaming purple meteor from the sky, all while laughing.

She was going to kill him.

Without thinking I run towards my body and gave it a shove.

I felt myself channeling all my energy into the sky, I look at my hands and noticed I was back in my body. I pull my arms back causing the meteor to dissipate and making me fall on the ground short of breath. I turn and see Victoria with Elizabeth running to Arkin's aid. I take a deep breath exhausted and use all my energy to get back on my feet. Victoria and Elizabeth take step back with their weapons out. I ignore them and walk over to Arkin, struggling to pull the blades out cutting myself in the process.

Just as I pull out the final blade the voice returns. "Behind you."

I turn and catch a bladed flying war fan, throwing it onto the ground.

The voice comes back. "Sword incoming!"

I back away and see the blade of Arkin's sword centimetres from my face, and almost by instinct I kick up knocking it out of his hands. I glare back at Victoria and Elizabeth. Elizabeth still had weapons drawn but Victoria was unarmed.

Victoria teleports in front of me and looks up at my eyes. We stand in silence for a moment with Victoria still staring at me. I hear Elizabeth moving and I glare at her but she put away her fans.

The voice taps my shoulder. "They respect you."

Victoria shakes her head breaking the silence. "Let her go."

Elizabeth and Arkin tilt their heads towards Victoria. Arkin shakes his head. "We can't do that Victoria. Lilibet gave us orders."

Victoria shook her head back. "I'll summon her right now."

Arkin grabs her wrist. "We can't."

Victoria raises her other arm and snaps her fingers, causing another flash in the room. A new girl entered the room, she was the same height as Victoria.

The new girl opens her eyes and summons a bow. "Let's see this one."

Victoria grabs my wrist and pulls me towards the girl. "This is Kirai."

The girl draws her bow and points it towards my head.

The voice quickly whispers. "Roll left."

I follow the voice's orders and roll to my left but nothing happened. The girl still had her bow drawn on me.

The voice gasps. "It's her..." I feel the voice tug on my body but I fought it back. "Give me control."

I ignored the voice, I sat on my knees waiting.

The voice groans. "If you want to live, do as I say... Or at least get take us to the shadow world to talk."

I channel the shadows through my arms engulfing me with shadows. The voice made a clicking sound making time freeze.

The voice sighed. "You make this hard for both of us."

"Who are you?" I ask, calling out to the voice.

The voice laughed. "Does it really matter?"

I shake my head from annoyance. "Give me a name to call you."

The voice goes silent for a moment. "I don't have one... But I'll let you make one for me."

I sit quietly thinking. "Veridia. Veri for short."

The voice laughs. "Good enough. Now give me control so I can get us out of here and away from her."

I close my eyes. "Don't do anything stupid."

Veridia pulls me out of my body once again and takes over. "Don't worry. My life is on the line too."

Veridia opens her eyes and time resumes. The girl fires an arrow at Veridia but Veridia calls the scythe and reflects the arrow back at her. Veridia laughs and covers the ground with a dark shadowy layer. Arkin, Victoria and Elizabeth surround Veridia but she just laughs.

Veridia opened a portal into the ground and smiles towards the girl. "We will meet again Lilibet!" Taunted Veridia using her own voice.

She jumped into the portal of energy and brought me with her. She was falling from the sky with a smokey trail from behind.

Veridia giggled. "See what kind of power you have Kirai?"

I shook my head only to realize she can't see me. "Yeah... It's scary..."

Veridia spun her scythe above her head slowing down her fall just before landing. "Scary? More like amazing!"

I stayed quiet letting her do whatever she needed.

She unsummoned her scythe and walked into a dark cave. "You don't realize how much of a gift this power really is. We can do anything with it, and I mean anything!"

"Where are we going?" I ask, unsure where she is planning to take me.

She shrugged. "I have a friend here that wants to meet you."

I curiously tilt my nonexistent head. "Why me?"

Veridia smiles. "He's helping out Shadowtails."

I couldn't help but wonder if someone is really willing to help a Shadowtail... Especially a human.

Veridia's ears peaked up. "We are here."

I look at our surroundings. She's just staring at a stone wall.

Veridia kicked the wall and the floor shook. The wall started to crack open revealing a room behind the wall. "My friend will meet us as soon as we enter the portal."

I watch quietly as Veridia walks into the room. The room was bright with metallic pillars and golden tubes running in the walls, channeling an energy into the major attraction of the room: A big golden shining portal.

Veridia stops right before the portal and ties her hair into a ponytail. "You know what it means when a girl is tying up her hair for a guy?"

I shook my head forgetting that she can't see me. "No I don't."

Veridia laughs. "Good." She steps into the portal with me questioning where she's taking me.


	4. A Lost Cause

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Veridia takes Kirai through a portal into the void to meet up with a friend of Veridia's.

We appeared on the other side of the portal into a different dimension. The sky was a bright yellow hue with streaks of white ribbons of energy. Looking around I see thousands of floating islands surrounding us all seeming shattered.

Veridia takes a break exhausted from walking and sits down on the metallic stairs. "Welcome to the void."

I scan out towards the shiny path. "Where is your friend?"

Veridia shrugs her shoulders. "He must be late."

We sit in silence together waiting for someone to come. I think to myself, what if Veridia and I are the only Shadowtails?

Veridia stretches her arms into the air yawning. "Are you usually this quiet?"

I shrug. "I never had someone to talk to."

She rolls her eyes. "You had your brother. I was watching the entire time"

"Yeah but usually it was for survival, not casual conversation..." I hung my head down looking at the ground just from instinct.

Veridia closes her eyes and suddenly jerks back up with a smile on her face. "Since I'm in control right now, let's see what you got!"

I watch her as she takes off the robe being completely naked in the middle of nowhere. "Jeez you have such a cute body..."

I cover my eyes trying not to see. "Can you stop?"

Veridia ignores me and continues to study my body. "Just a little bit more."

All of a sudden I felt something ping inside me. I close my eyes and sense someone walking down the path. "There's someone coming!"

Veridia quickly gets the robes back on as a man waves from appearing down the path.

The man waved back and signaled to follow him. Veridia didn't say anything and just followed him down the path to somewhere. The path was confusing, it traveled from island to island, each region changing it's biome and temperature. Most of the time it was through a thick green and cool forest and other times we would be going through a deep freezing cold tundra.

The man pulls out a purple crystal from his pocket. "Veridia, let the girl have her body back."

Veridia nods. "It's your turn Kirai."

I closed my eyes and tugged Veridia, claiming my body back.

I open my eyes to see the man in front of me as Veridia whispers. "Be nice to him."

The man puts away the purple crystal and turns to me. "So you're Kirai?"

I nod unknowing what will happen.

The man lets out a small laugh. "Don't worry, I don't want to harm you."

He pulls out a glowing sky blue crystal pulsing with light. "Now that you are in control of your own body, allow me to teleport us to my camp." He shatters the crystal and causes a flash.

I uncover my eyes and suddenly we were transported to a massive hollow tree shooting light into the sky. "What is this place?"

The man laughs. "The void? The Tree of Life? Or this entire world in general?"

I wanted him to answer all of those questions but he stops me and shakes my hand. "I am Serpentine, once an heir of the heavens now just looking for answers."

I pull my hand away from him still not trusting where this is going. "Why am I here?"

Serpentine shakes his head. "You are part of the solution to the problem Kirai."

I tilt my head in confusion.

Serpentine pulls a notepad out of his coat. "You and Veridia are the only two mortals that can go into the Angelic Heavens, yet now both of you share the same body."

I shake my head. "What do you mean _now_?"

Veridia sighs. "I was alive once too but then the angels captured me and took my body."

Serpentine nods his head. "I'll let Veridia tell you. Let me go find the others." He exits through a door within the tree leaving me alone.

Veritia continued. "As a last effort to save my life I sent my soul into the shadows hoping that there was still a Shadowtail to claim it... And you are the one who has me now."

I sit down. "So I happened to be the only Shadowtail?"

Veritia replies. "Yes, and I'm happy you're a cute one too."

Serpentine comes back through the door with a large man with massive scars on his face and a little girl with scratches on her arms and legs. "Kirai, meet Brute and Ash. I had to drag these two into the void to save their lives."

I wave to them and Brute waves back. "Little fox girl looks like angel."

Ash scoffs and summons a fiery red blade from her sleeve. "Are you sure she's not?"

I summon my scythe only to have Veridia stop me. "No, don't do it."

Serpentine rests his hand on Ash's shoulder. "I can assure you that she is not an angel. She would have fled or killed us all if she was."

Brute walks up to me and puts his heavy hand on my head, petting me somehow gently. "Little fox do no harm."

Ash rolls her eyes and looks away from me.

Veridia sighs. "Ash has an interesting backstory... Serpentine told me all about it."

Serpentine pulls out a crystal out of his pocket and places it on a light in the middle of a room, casting a projection of a tree. "So here is my plan." He starts off.

The crystal hums with light as the projection turns into an animated picture. Serpentine clears his throat and stands before us. "We need Ash to create a way into the Angelic Sanctuaries using the magic power she still has."

Ash silently nods with some sorrow in her eyes.

Serpentine points to me as the projection shifts. "You will infiltrate the Angelic Sanctuaries and find Veridia's body."

Veridia laughs but I tilt my head and ask; "Why me?"

Serpentine shakes his head face palming. "Because you and Veridia share the same body. Therefore, you can easily transfer Veridia's soul into her body directly."

Brute interupts jumping excitedly for his role. "What do I do?"

Serpentine places a hand on Brute's arm smiling. "You get to make sandwiches while I figure out how to make your brain work again!"

Brute pumps his fist into the air already celebrating. "Woohoo! I get good job!"

Ash rolls her eyes and disappears leaving a red bloody mist where she was.

I watch Brute pick up Serpentine bringing both of them through the door they once came. I look around the hollow tree impressed by the glimmer of the veins of energy flowing through the walls.

Veridia lets out a sigh of relief before what I assume her laying down next to me. "So do you have any questions about anything?"

I walk to the wall of the tree and place my hand against it, feeling its warm energy. "I have too many."

She thinks for a moment making small murmurs. "Then let's focus on one thing. Anything you want to know about me?"

Thinking for what seemed to be hours I ask her: "Where did you come from?"

Veridia goes silent.

I felt my face turn red thinking I said something wrong. We both sit down listening to the humming of the tree only to be interrupted by Veridia.

"I was- No, I am- Err..." She starts off unsure what to say. "I am half human and half angel."

I nod my head letting her continue.

Veridia takes a deep breath. "My mother came down into the human realm during the War of the First World. After the war was over she fell in love with a human."

I close my eyes resting them. "So that's how Shadowtails are made?"

"No no, not at all." She pauses. "My father was a black mage... The enemy that she was supposed to fight. But she disobeyed orders and well... You know, gave birth to me."

I unexpectedly smile. "So you were the first."

Veridia continues. "She brought me to the Angelic Sanctuaries to raise me because she didn't want me getting destroyed by the destruction of World 1." She pauses again to catch her breath. "They made me work as a worldbuilder angel. And after many attempts of getting my worlds created, it finally got accepted and here we are in this one."

I can't help but ask more questions but I let Veridia vent out the rest of her story.

"The reason why I'm not the only Shadowtail is because I created them in secret using my own self as a base for their actions hoping that they would be happy in this world but it turns out being bred from evil makes you... Evil..." Veridia goes silent for a while not saying a word almost like she left.

"Veridia?" I call out to her.

No response.

I close my eyes trying to concentrate hearing for sounds of her voice.

I hear the sound of a quiet whimper of Veridia crying, trying to hold herself back.

"Veridia, what's wrong?"

She tries to hold back from crying but just bursts into tears. "I wanted a family of the same race as me. Not some Humans or Angels, just a few Shadowtails..."

"You have me."

Veridia stopped crying. "I know."

I let out a sigh. "I might not know what you look like or how to have a conversation with someone but I can still be here."

I felt a sudden pulse of warmth coming from my heart almost like it lit up with a light.

Veridia calms down and giggles quietly. "At least one Shadowtail isn't a killer like the others."

I smile and look down at my lap expecting Veridia to be resting her head there. "You really think that?"

She laughs. "First of all; your magic is stronger than mine somehow. Second; how did you know I was on your lap?"

"I read some books I stole and usually people do that at times like this."

I look around the hallowed tree noticing a staircase to the top. I get up from where I was sitting and make my way towards it, looking up the stairs to see how high it goes.

"Where do you think you're going?" she curiously asks.

"Up there." I point up to the top of the stairs seeing a door.

Veridia takes interest. "That's Serpentine's room. We shouldn't go there but..." she trailed off. "Let's go see and things go to worse, I'll save us as usual."

I take a quick look around checking if anyone is watching us. When the coast is clear I quietly sneak up the stairs to the top and open the door.

Inside were many contraptions, most of which I couldn't explain.

Veridia giggles. "I'll check his desk and you can look at the cool stuff."

I see a chest next to his bed and crouch down noticing it's not locked. I open the chest noticing many different coloured crystals inside. "What does he use these crystals for?"

"It seems like they contain a lot of magic energy inside. Maybe uses it to power his contraptions and himself." Veridia replied

I walk over to the desk after closing the chest and notice a book. I pick it up and open it.

Veridia reads aloud for me. " _Something isn't right about the Angelic Powers, they have been acting more violent and corrupt since my last contact with them_."

I turn the book to it's cover realizing it is Serpentine's journal.

Out of nowhere we hear the door lock and I feel an arm around my neck in a chokehold.

"What are you doing here?" Serpentine pulls out a knife from his back pocket holding it near my face. "You shouldn't be looking in places you are not welcomed."

Veridia laughs. "He's just testing how fearful you are, he won't hurt you."

I felt my arm heat up as it emits a thick black smoke. Next thing I know my body turns into smoke freeing me from his grasp.

Serpentine sheathes the blade and smiles. "I see you are not a violent one like Ash."

I look at my hands not knowing how I did that. "I didn't mean to-"

Serpentine interrupts me. "But you did."

I couldn't answer. Before I could try and open my mouth Veridia pulls me out and takes control. "Leave her be, she was just curious."

"Veridia, give the girl back her body." Serpentine snapped.

Veridia sighed and stood still letting me take control once again. "I'm sorry."

Serpentine puts a hand on my shoulder and looks at me in the eye. "It's fine. I wanted you to come up here so we can speak in private just me and you... Oh and Veridia as well, I almost forgot you two are sharing your body."

"What do you need us here for?" I ask.

Serpentine clears his throat. "I need you here because I have questions needing to be answered."

I shake my head. "I don't know anything."

He places a hand on my shoulder which seems like his way of getting people to listen. "But you are someone who can show their face to the angels." He sits down on his chair and puts his hands together in a thinking position. "Arkin, Victoria, Eliza, and Lilibet think I'm dead. I can't have them see me or else the void will be wiped just like the normal world."

"What do you mean wiped?" I ask.

Serpentine sighs. "When the worldbuilder angels choose a world, the previous one gets destroyed. The void is the only thing that remains." He points to a window in his room. "Every single island, rock, and every single thing you see in the void is a relic from a previous world." He gets up and points to a glowing island of a temple covered in what seems to be glitter. "That island right there. That was the previous world: World 9. That specific part is Lilibet's temple, the stardust blanketing it is just a fraction of her power."

I heard Veridia make a grunt. "Lilibet is the one who ordered me to be put in stasis."

"Who is Lilibet?" I ask Veridia, not realizing Serpentine was still here.

Serpentine sighs and takes out a picture. He hands the picture to me and points to a little girl with blue hair and a blue robe. "That is Lilibet when I first met her."

The others in the photo looked extremely familiar. "Arkin, Victoria, Brute, Elizabeth... and you?"

Serpentine took the picture out of my hands and places it on the table. "Arkin, Heir of the Angels." He hands me a photo of Arkin. "Victoria, Daughter of Arkin, and First Mortal Angel." He snaps his fingers making another picture of Victoria appear in my hand. "Elizabeth, Queen of Mercenaries. She was turned into an angel when Ash tried to kill everyone in the Angelic Order. Most likely the most dangerous of the three."

I place the photos on the table. "Why are you telling me this?"

Serpentine frowned. "They were once my allies. Now something happened and they are no longer what they once stood for."

Veridia whispered. "He's going to talk more even if you don't respond."

"I used to idolize Arkin for his bravery and righteousness even under the most pressure by the gods themselves. But now he follows them like a blind sheep into a slaughterhouse." Serpentine continued. "Victoria was such a caring person and did not like violence. Now I assume she hurts whoever Arkin tells her to."

"She is still like that." I blurt out.

Veridia takes over my body to speak. "Victoria saved her from execution by Eliza and Arkin."

Serpentine scratches his chin and thinks. "What about Eliza?"

Veridia laughs. "She follows orders, and still bloodthirsty when needed."

Serpentine picks up the picture of Elizabeth. "So the only one that changed was Arkin and Lilibet..."

"Lilibet has gone crazy ever since Elppans left." Veridia added.

Serpentine's eyes widen at the information. "Lilibet is on the throne now?" He puts down the picture and started searching for a crystal in the chest. "No wonder things have changed!"

"Who is Elppans?" I ask Veridia.

Veridia shrugs. "Elppans is Lilibet's father. He used to be the God of the Angels but he one day disappeared and Lilibet took the throne until he returns."

Serpentine nods. "Elppans is more than just the God of the Angels, he is the whole reason we have angels." He picks out a golden crystal out of the box. "He created angels with his magic then created the Angelic Sanctuaries."

I stay silent letting them talk with each other.

He hands the golden crystal to Veridia. "This will make the transfer from this body into Veridia's. Make sure Kirai is in control."

Veridia nods. "Hear that Kirai?"

"Understood." I reply, still not used to being out of my body.

Serpentine pulls out a pink crystal out of his pocket radiating with energy. "This is for Lilibet. Tell her it's from me."

Veridia nods again. "We won't forget."

Serpentine puts his hand on Veridia's shoulder and lets out a evil laugh. "Now... Let's get Ash to get you two up there." He walks to the door and turns around. "Give Kirai her body again."

Veridia rolls her eyes. "Fine."

I get ready to take over and tug on Veridia, pulling her out and phasing myself back. "You ready Veridia?"

Veridia laughs. "Let's go get me!"


	5. A Shadow Hidden in the Light

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kirai finds her true self after getting forced into a dark step.

The warm air of the void turns cool once Ash begun her ritual. The bloodstained floor of the hallowed tree glows an ominous red as the ground begins to shake. Serpentine stands behind Ash watching as she performs her blood magic for the portal to the Angelic Heavens.

Veridia laughs. "You ready Kirai?"

I stand in awe of how much power Ash can control. She could destroy entire worlds with that magic. "Not really."

Serpentine walks over to me and puts his arm around my shoulder. "You see this Kirai? The energy Ash contains is only a fraction of what you possess." 

Ash mutters something under the echoes of voices coming from summoning.

"I'm not that powerful." I whisper to myself, unsure if Serpentine can hear me through the echoes.

Serpentine smiles and turns me to the edge of the void island. "Look down below us. Tell me what you see."

I stare down into the abyss seeing nothing but darkness. Only shadows. "Nothing."

Veridia gasps. "He's going to push you!"

I felt my ears perk up as I slide under his arm, dodging his push. Without thinking I kick Serpentine off the island and watch him fall into the Shadows.

Veridia takes a breath of relief. "What the fuck just happened?"

I look down again seeing him take out one of his crystals. "He tried to kill us."

Veridia grunts. "How the fuck are we supposed to get my body now?"

I keep watching Serpentine as he smashes the crystal absorbing some sort of energy.

Veridia gasps again. "He's going to cast something on you."

I pull out my scythe ready to react but a bright flash blinds me making me cover my eyes.

I felt a strong wind flowing through my hair, flattening my clothes against my body. I uncover my eyes and see nothing but an endless black approach me. I was falling.

I try to summon my scythe but I couldn't. "Veridia?"

No response.

I keep calling out to Veridia louder and louder.

No response.

I look back up to the islands watching them disappear behind the fog of the void. Everything I once knew gone. I turn forward once again and closed my eyes.

I felt my body suddenly be put to a stop as I impacted what seemed to be the ground. Yet I didn't feel any pain... Or anything really. I get up on my feet and look up. Nothing but darkness surrounding me.

"Veridia?" I call out. Hoping that she would respond.

I hear a faint voice in the distance.

I turn to look but I still can't see anything. "Veridia?" I yell out again.

"Kirai!" A voice calls out.

I turn around again only to see my reflection in a mirror. I step closer to the mirror staring at myself. "Where are you Veridia?"

My reflection tilt's it's head. "Who is Veridia?" It asks.

I jump in surprise backing away. "She's a friend of mine. Another Shadowtail like me."

The refection scratches it's head. "What do you mean another Shadowtail? We haven't had those for several years!" The reflection steps away for a moment and comes back with a book. "Kirai, I don't know what's gotten into you but... Come closer okay?"

I take a few steps closer to my reflection on guard for what's to come.

My reflection smiles and suddenly jumps out of the mirror grabbing my arm and pulling me in. "Look, you aren't a Shadowtail."

She turns me around looking back at the mirror.

It was just me. No dark silver ears, no silver tail like a fox. Just me as a human.

My reflection turns me back around looking at her. "See?"

I look at my hands. No shadowy smoke was coming out of my arm or fingertips. I couldn't feel my ears nor tail. I couldn't hear Veridia.

I was just a normal human.

My reflection laughs. "Food is ready and we have a special guest." She snaps her fingers and fades away, causing the black around me scatter off revealing a small warm bedroom with the smell of turkey and gravy coming from outside the door.

"Veridia?" I call out one last time.

Still nothing.

I turn to the mirror and look at myself still in the white robes from the angels. "I should change..."

I notice a dresser near the bed and open it, seeing only one outfit inside. I pull out the outfit and look at it. A black battledress with silver armour pieces. I check drawers and the closet for other things to wear but couldn't find anything.

"This will have to do." I put on the battledress. It was light and not that tight. It felt like I could still move around easily as if it were cloth.

Something clicked inside my head and I spun around, just as the bedroom door opened.

"Hello Veridia." Arkin greeted me.

I tried to summon my scythe but I didn't have any magic.

Arkin pulled out his sword and held it by the blade. "Feel this." He held out the grip of his sword. I grabbed it and he let go. "Feels nice huh?"

I could feel the magical energy radiating from the blade itself. "Yeah."

Arkin took the sword from me and sheathed it back into it's holster. "But what's more nice is that today is the day you become an Heir."

I stiffen from shock from what he just said. "Me?"

He nods. "You are a good candidate. You stopped the Shadowtails after all."

My mind went blank. What kind of reality is this? Did I really stop them? "But aren't I a Shadowtail?"

Arkin laughs. "If you are, then show me some magic!"

I channel my arm with energy, all it did was make my arm cramp. "I thought I was the last one."

Arkin's eyes squint questioning me. "What do you mean? The last one was Veridia?"

"Veridia!?" I felt myself shaking. Is Veridia dead because of me?

Arkin nods. "She's in her prison right now thanks to you baiting her into a trap."

I think to myself quickly. Trying to think of a way to get to her. "Can I see her?"

Arkin puts his hand on his sword slowly pulling it out. "Why?"

Shit.

"I want to see the reason why I am becoming an Heir." I say, hoping he would buy into it.

Arkin puts back his sword. "Sure." He grabs my hand and snaps his fingers taking us into the Angelic Heavens within a second.

"Kirai Okumura..." Called from behind. It was Veridia.

I turn and see a shadowy figure, chained by angelic energy. "Veridia?"

Arkin pulled out his sword and gave it to me. "She wanted to see you." He looks down at me. "I'll let you be for now." He snaps his fingers again disappearing from the room. Leaving me and Veridia alone.

"Why the fuck are you here?" Veridia spat out. "Just to rub how cunning and cute you are becoming an Heir?"

I put down Arkin's sword and step closer to Veridia. "No not at all."

Veridia rolled her eyes. "Then what is it?"

I look down at my hands. "Why am I not a Shadowtail?"

Veridia's anger suddenly turned into laughter. "You? A Shadowtail?" She laughed even harder. "You were never one to begin with! Just a human!"

I couldn't believe it. Veridia said it too. "But I was... Then Serpentine pushed me off the island and you-"

Veridia cuts me off. "Who's Serpentine? What island?" What about me?"

I shake my head. "I am a Shadowtail, you were in my head and you were there to see me do everything."

Veridia laughs again. "You're actually crazy Kirai! Why aren't you locked up like me?"

I felt my hand clench into a fist. "No, I really am a Shadowtail."

Veridia lets out a chuckle. "Yeah, just like how Arkin is one too!"

I felt my hand shaking. My heart gone cold and the light on my skin gone. "I'm serious."

"Then go get killed by Arkin!" Veridia mocks.

I couldn't take it anymore. I tried to channel energy into my hand once again but nothing is working. The echoes of Veridia mocking me and Arkin saying I'm becoming an Heir fill my head.

I fell down on my knees and started to tear up.

Veridia looks down at me still mocking. "What's wrong 'Shadowtail' can't use your powers? That's because you're fucking Huma-"

"Shut up." I mutter to Veridia making her quiet.

The silence of the room amplifies what's in my head. "You're just human." is all I can hear. I shake my head crying not wanting to believe it. I close my eyes telling myself to stop thinking that but the echoes and voices climb louder and louder.

"I AM A SHADOWTAIL!" I scream out. Causing the echoes and voices to stop.

"What's wrong Kirai?" Veridia asks.

"I said shut up Veridia." I yell out, crying into my hands.

"It's not like I can just leave you know. You do remember I am stuck in your head right?"

I stop crying and look up. I was still in the room but there was no one with me. "Veridia? My Veridia?"

"I-" Veridia lets out. "Y-Your Veridia?"

I search all around me looking for the source of the voice. "It is you!" I wipe my tears from my face in relief.

"Yep it's me!" Veridia let's out a confused giggle.

I turn around seeing the mirror once again. I run up to it and I stare at myself in the reflection. Still in the battledress. Still alive.

Still a Shadowtail.

"Wow, where did you get that?" Veridia asks sounding stunned from my appearance.

I shrug. "I don't know... I think from a dream..."

"A dream?" Veridia asks.

I sigh. "Yeah I wasn't a Shadowtail... Just a Human... It seemed so real..."

Veridia goes silent.

"You think I'm crazy don't you?" I ask while looking up into the sky.

"No." Veridia paused. "I heard everything they said to you... Just a Human, becoming an Heir, my voice mocking you..."

I sat down staring up above. "You heard everything?"

"Yep... I even tried talking to you but I couldn't."

So it wasn't a dream. What did Serpentine do?

"I did see the last part before we came back here." Veridia added.

"What happened?" I ask hoping for an answer.

"You faded into the shadow world and brought us through a dimensional portal back here."

"I did that? It couldn't be me..." I thought to myself.

Veridia laughed. "Can't believe you have the power to switch dimensions... I'm jealous..." she said shyly.

"How do we get back up?"

"I got it under control. Don't worry." Veridia tugged on my shoulder and took control. "I feel your energy Kirai... It's grown..." She summons her scythe and opens a portal back to the tree. "You take over from here, I like watching out for you."

I possess my body once again and step through the portal immediately being greeted by Serpentine.

Serpentine puts a hand on my shoulder. "So what was it like?"

I pushed his hand off my shoulder. "Scary. I never realized my worst fear was really being Human."

Serpentine tilts his head. "What do you mean? I was talking about the softness of the darkness down there."

"Long story." I started walking away, returning to my spot watching Ash still cast the portal.

"Kirai?" Veridia calls out.

"Yeah?"

"If I'm your Veridia..." She pauses. "You're my Kirai then."

I felt my cheeks warm up. "Okay sure."

I stand and watch with Veridia seeing the portal finally shine open.


	6. An Angel's Nightmare

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kirai enters the Angelic Heavens and carries out Serpentine's plan.

"I'll send Brute in once you retrieve Veridia's body. Just break this crystal and we will know." Serpentine hands us another crystal filled with energy. "Remember, if you need to come back make sure both of you stick together. I don't need you two splitting up."

Ash rolls her eyes and started to walk away. "I'll be here to close the portal when you all are done."

"Where do you think you're going?" Serpentine blocks the door in front of Ash. "We still need you as backup."

"When do I go?" Ash groaned in an annoyed tone.

Veridia lets out a squeal. "I think we should go now!"

I summon my scythe and step to the portal. I press my hand against the portal feeling it's power. The strands of blood magic streaming across the portal turn into a dark purple smoke streaks. I stick my hand through only to be pulled inside through to the other side.

I look around where we are. I open my eyes to a space of both darkness and light clashing together perfectly balanced. It was almost like the void but... More peaceful and calming.

"We're being watched." Veridia mutters, yet still taking in the breathtaking scenery.

I rip my eyes away from the colourful abyss looking at the islands only to notice an angel staring directly at us.

I hold my scythe out to my side ready for the angel to attack but she just stood still. Staring at us almost like she doesn't know what to do.

"Kirai?" The angel calls out.

"She looks familiar..." Veridia curiously studies the angel. "I think we should make our move."

I nod my head and channel power into my scythe making it glow a bright warm purple. "How do you know me?" I shout to the angel trying to pose as threat.

The angel flies towards me unarmed. The closer she got the more features I could see. Purple hair, her animal is a squirrel...

"Shit, it's Victoria!" Veridia worryingly panics.

Victoria lands in front of me onto the soft grass. "How did you end up in my sanctuary?"

I think of what to say to her without telling what actually happened. "I was practicing magic."

Her curious expression becomes annoyed.

"She's going to grab your arm." Veridia quickly lets out.

I pull my arm away but Victoria put a hand on my chest.

"She's going for your arm again." Veridia whispers."

I tried to pull myself away from Victoria but I couldn't move my body.

Victoria grabbed my arm and immediately I felt something search through my mind, a spark of opposite energy in my mind.

She let go of my arm with her eyes shocked. "Ash is still alive? Brute too?" She started panicking. "Serpentine is leading and taking care of them too... Oh my Elppans... Where are they?"

"In the void." I reply, only to realize I wasn't supposed to tell anyone.

"Kirai you idiot she's an angel!" Veridia snapped.

Victoria lets out a sigh of relief. "As I expected... Well, it's good to know we didn't kill our friends." Her eyes wandered off staring out into the abyss. "Kirai I have a question."

I tilt my head waiting for her to speak.

Victoria takes my hand and walked with me towards a bridge. "Why are you really here?"

I stared down at her unsure on what to say. She is supposed to be my enemy.

"Are you looking for Veridia?" She asks.

I look away. "No..."

Victoria laughed. "Yes you are. You would've asked who she was if you weren't." We stop at the edge of an island with a boat hovering in front of us. "I can help you." She steps into the boat and signals for me to get in with her.

I didn't know what was happening, is she luring me into some sort of trap? "Why do you want to help me? You're supposed to kill me aren't you?"

Victoria smiled. "If I wanted to kill you, you would have been dead at birth." She rolls her eyes. "Besides, you really mean no harm to anyone... Even if we throw our deadliest people against you."

Veridia started laughing. "Arkin, Eliza, Lilibet and Victoria. Strongest of the Angelic Order yet none of them beat you!"

I giggled from Veridia's comment. "Victoria did beat me in terms of heart."

Victoria squints her eyes at me. "Who are you talking to?" She thinks for a moment and suddenly gasps. "Veridia isn't it?"

I nod my head. "How did you know?"

Victoria puts her hands on her lap twirling her fingers. "As the Caretaker of All Angels, Arkin's Guardian Angel, the Second Angel of Command, and the Warden of the Sanctuaries." she paused. "I taught her how to do that."

Veridia whispers into my ear. "She has many more titles but she likes those ones the most."

"Is she the most powerful angel in existence?" I ask.

Victoria laughs. "Both of us have a lot in common Kirai." She snaps her fingers teleporting us into a large bright hall with thousands upon thousands of what seemed to be jail cells made from angelic energy. "But we will talk more about that once we can talk in peace."

Veridia gasps. "Find cell 1138, that's where they put my body."

Victoria grabs my hand and points at a pitch black cell behind us. "1138, Veridia's cell." She unlocks the barrier and walks me through into the dark cell. "I'll let you two figure it out." Victoria laughs and steps out of the cell, before I could step out she summons the barrier once again locking me inside. "Good luck!" She snaps her fingers teleporting away as a key falls from the ceiling. 

Veridia laughs. "I don't even care she locked us in just go get my body!"

I turn around into the dark cell and see a silvery glimmer from the back. I reach out to the shiny object feeling a soft and squishy yet firm round object.

"Kirai that's my... Nevermind..." Veridia embarrassingly laughs.

My face turns a fiery red in an instant. "Oh I'm sorry!"

Veridia giggles. "Just hold the crystal against me."

I pull the golden crystal out from my pocket feeling it's energy warm my hands. "It's heavy..." I look up to Veridia's body in the dark and hold the crystal against her forehead. For a moment, nothing happened. Then a giant surge of energy was sucked out from my hand and guided through the crystal.

I pull my hand away from the sudden surge, yet not feeling like I lost any magic at all. "Veridia?"

Veridia didn't respond.

I look up to Veridia's body looking for signs of life. Her face wasn't moving, and I couldn't sense any energy emitting from her body. "Veridia?" I call out again.

No response.

I sat down in front of Veridia's body waiting for her to come back. Only the hum of the barrier was all I heard. Along with the faint thumps of my heartbeat and the worried breathing of my lungs.

Other than that, it was just silence.

After hours of sitting I got up, and pulled the reinforcement crystal from my pocket. Before I could break it I heard Veridia's body suddenly jerk back alive gasping for air. 

"Veridia?" I call out, tears already filling my eyes.

Veridia smiled and suddenly tackled me, pinning me down against the ground. "Kirai!" She stares into my eyes for a moment as her breathing started to normalize.

I could feel my face smiling while tearing up at the same time.

"Kirai?" Veridia whispers.

"Yes?" I ask.

"Close your eyes." She says, smiling.

I close my eyes for a moment and suddenly feel the soft lips of Veridia touch mine. My mind suddenly went blank as my eyes opened, seeing her beauty kissing me passionately on the dark floor.

She pulls her mouth away from mine breathing for more air. Before I could speak she holds my chin with her cool hands kissing me once again. My body started to feel hot, almost like I've been covered in a blanket of... I don't even know! The way Veridia held me down and the way she kissed felt so weird and so comforting.

She pulls away once again this time with a smile on her face. "I think I love you."

My face glows redder than ever before as I stared into her silvery eyes. "I think I love you too."

Veridia laughs and gets up from the ground pulling me up my feet. "Now let's go find Lilibet."

I felt dizzy from what just happened and had to sit down.

Veridia bent down and picked up the radiating dropped crystal from the floor and smashed it in the firm grasp of her hands. "Brute should be on their way. Follow me, I know how to get to Lilibet."

I stood up and followed behind Veridia as she picked up Victoria's key on the floor and opened the barrier. Just as she stepped into the light I finally saw her true beauty. She wasn't like the angels or even like me at all, she looked like a young adult. She looked like the shadow version of Eliza, or at least what I could remember of her.

Veridia's arm started to glow with a shadowy smoke. "Like what you see Kirai?"

"I-" I felt unbelievably embarrassed.

Veridia laughed and summoned a dark portal. "Of course you do, now let's rally with Brute." She jumps into the portal pulling me with her.

The air changed from warm and metallic to cool as we arrive in another hall... This time dark with the only light sources coming from the small stained glass windows on the walls. 

I felt something inside me click turning my attention to the door we were standing in front of. "Veridia..." I could sense something bad was going to happen. I grab Veridia and pull her away from the door waiting for something to come out.

"Smash!" Brute yells as he bursts through the tall golden doors of the hall. "It seem like Kirai found Veridia."

Veridia nods. "Long time no see big guy!"

Brute laughs. "Serpentine fix brain but not speech."

Behind the mist of rubble behind Brute out came Serpentine. "Good to see you girls."

The room suddenly lights up as massive pillars of fire activate guiding us to the other end.

Serpentine thinks to himself. "You three, go. I'll sneak in from behind and pull something." Serpentine slipped into the mist of the rubble once again leaving the three of us in the hall.

We all look at each other and nod. We walked cautiously towards the end. New pillars of fire were activating every few meters we walked. It seemed like an endless deserted hallway that led to nothing.

At the end of the hallway the room suddenly fills with light as several angels with Lilibet appear on seven pillars in front of us.

Lilibet shows us a devilish smile. "Out of all places you show your face, you choose my own territory to expose yourself? Such foolishness."

The angels in the room start laughing at us.

I sensed something behind us. I summon my scythe and swing behind us only to see Victoria gripping the blade of my scythe.

Victoria smiled. "No escape this time."

She looked behind me at Lilibet and leans over to me. "I'm going to help you, just pretend I'm not." she whispers.

I nod my head and unsummon my scythe.

Brute turns around and sees Victoria. "Little Squirrel!"

Victoria waves and stands her ground.

Lilibet calms the crowd down with her hand and summons her bow. "The doors are locked, the runes are active, there is no way of getting out of here." Lilibet started to laugh.

The sound of horns filled the room as Arkin and Eliza appear from behind a crowd of angels, jumping down into the circular arena in front of Lilibet's pillar.

Veridia looks at me in the eye. "Give her the crystal."

I pull out Serpentine's crystal from my pocket and hold it up to Lilibet. "Serpentine told me to-"

Lilibet draws her bow and fires an arrow at the crystal, shattering it into pieces. "Told you to what? The only thing he did was send you to your death!"

I felt Veridia channeling her energy ready to fight. She rose her arms to her side summoning dual shadowy and sharp chakrams ready let out her magic against Lilibet.

Victoria grabs my hand. "Target Eliza first. Then Arkin."

I simply nod and summon my scythe jumping down into the arena with Arkin and Eliza. I look up at Veridia as she jumps down landing beside me.

The sounds of horns and drums intensify as the timer strikes lower and lower.

The look of Veridia's face is filled with hate and seeks revenge.

I wonder what I looked like.

A large horn signaled the end of the timer, causing Veridia , Arkin, and Elizabeth to charge towards each other while I stood still. Veridia's chakrams clashed against the war fans of Elizabeth while Arkin kept charging towards me. Sword drawn, imbued with light, full of power...

I close my eyes, searching for a click inside me.

Click.

I step back dodging Arkin's swing, returning with a slash of my blade to his shoulder. He swings back up and summons a magical barrier on his arm as his shield. I swung again, clashing my scythe with his sword only to dig my scythe into the ground causing the earth beneath him to shatter, making his footing unbalanced. He leaps back and raises his scepter summoning multiple blades in the hundreds all focused on me, launching them within a heartbeat. I close my eyes once again and channel energy into my arm, releasing a thick cloud of dark smoke engulfing the arena, destroying the magic blades in the process. I walk towards Arkin, him blinded by the smoke yet I could see him clearly through.

He was fighting me in my world now. No longer his.

I jab his back with the blunt end of my scythe stumbling him forward into the smoke. I do it once again followed by a kick forcing him down onto the ground. He looks up at me as I stand over him. Pinning him down beneath my blade.

I raise my scythe ready to finish him off.

"Kirai!" I hear Veridia cry out from the other side of the arena.

I turn my head towards Veridia seeing Elizabeth swinging her fans at Veridia, cutting her over and over with the razor sharp edges. Veridia was backing away weakly, unable to keep up with Elizabeth's speed.

I felt my heart blacken. My blood boiled with a rage I couldn't control. I close my eyes and dashed towards Elizabeth. I swing my scythe as soon as I was in reach of Eliza, hearing the sound of a sharp edge cut through flesh. I open my eyes and see a shadowy cut across Veridia's back.

I dropped my scythe. "No..." I pushed Elizabeth away and kneel down beside Veridia. "No no no... Veridia I-I'm so sorry!" I started to cry as I held Veridia in my arms.

The sound of the drums stopped and the only sounds I could hear was quiet whispers among the crowd.

Veridia took a deep breath and held my hand. "It's okay Kirai... It's not your fault." She coughed into her arm letting out blood.

"But it is my fault."

She squeezed my hand harder. "No it's not. I don't want it to be."

"But-"

"Kirai."

"But-"

"Kirai, just relax."

I couldn't say a word.

"Kirai..." She closed her eyes and took another breath. "You're the best person I've ever loved to be around."

I sensed Lilibet walking towards me with her bow ready.

I sat still on my knees watching Veridia resting in my arms.

Lilibet grunts. "If the two of you won't finish this, then I will." She draws her bow with an arrow ready.

I sit still hugging Veridia close to me.

The string of the bow vibrates the air as soon as Lilibet fires her arrow.

I felt time slow as the arrow approaches.

I close my eyes waiting.

........

.....

...

I opened my eyes and turned around. The arrow was stopped in time and everything was frozen. The world was darker than before.

Veridia coughed. "Kirai?"

I was in the shadow world.

I kneel beside Veridia and place my hand against her heart. "Yes?"

"Are we dead?" Veridia asks with her weak voice.

I channel my magic to the palm of my hand. "No, we are in the shadow world."

Veridia laughs. "Then fucking heal me already."

I laugh as I feel my energy connecting the two of us. "I am."

The hum of energy faded as I healed her wounds. I helped Veridia up as she took a deep breath.

Veridia hugs me tight. "I told you to relax." She started to laugh. "We Shadowtails are hard to kill... Especially you."

I let out a small giggle as the world around us slowly brightens, taking us out of the shadow world.

The loud crash of Brute landing between us and Lilibet's arrow shakes the ground.

Brute caught the arrow out of the air. "Little goddess need time out."

Lilibet backed away from Brute drawing her bow once again. "I command you to back off!"

Brute laughed. "Who said I listen to bad little girl?"

Lilibet fired another arrow from her bow only to be caught by Brute once again.

I glance at Arkin and Elizabeth both with their weapons out ready to attack us again.

Victoria appears in front of us with her sword out, ready to fend off Arkin and Elizabeth.

"Why do you disobey orders Victoria?" Arkin shouted.

Victoria smiled. "I don't listen to the ones in charge if they run the throne with foolishness and fear. Now put down your weapons or else I'll banish you into World 11 as it's being destroyed."

Arkin sheathed his sword and scepter onto his belt. "You wouldn't do that to your father would you?"

Elizabeth sighed. "She would."

Victoria laughed and turned to both me and Veridia. "I'll run the Angelic Powers as Lilibet calms down. She doesn't like it when her father leaves to study another dimension."

I look up at Victoria. "What happens to us?"

Victoria thinks for a moment. "Veridia can stay here as a world builder angel again."

Veridia jumps with joy. "What about Kirai?"

Victoria turns to Arkin and Elizabeth.

A moment passes and she turns around to me. "We will arrange something for you."


End file.
